TAP Adds Berlin and Turin to its European Operations
TAP Portugal is to introduce new direct flights to Berlin and Turin from its Lisbon base during the Northern Summer 2012 schedules. The Portuguese national carrier and Star Alliance member will introduce a four times weekly service to the Italian city of Turin from June 3, 2012 and a five times weekly link to the new Willy Brandt Brandenburg Airport in the German capital Berlin from June 5, 2012. TAP already has a strong presence in the Italian market and with the addition of Turin to its network will offer 93 weekly flights from Portugal with direct services to five Italian cities. The airline currently offers four daily flights from Lisbon to Rome, alongside 26 weekly services to Milan and daily links to Bologna and Venice. These are supplemented by twice daily flights from Porto to Milan and daily flights from the Portuguese city to Rome. According to the airline’s own statistics it transported a total of 764,000 passengers between Portugal and Italy during the first eleven months of this year, a 12.8% per cent growth on the same period the previous year. There are currently no direct services between Lisbon and Turin but an estimated 4,000 O&D passengers travelled between the Portuguese capital and the Italian city, which is the capital of the Piedmont region and a major cultural and business centre in the North East of the country. The new link to Berlin will bring TAP’s German network to 60 flights per week and will complement its existing services to Frankfurt (21 flights per week), Munich (14 flights per week), Hamburg (13 flights per week) and Düsseldorf (seven flights per week). During the first eleven months of this year it carried 484,000 passengers between Portugal and Germany, according to its own internal traffic data, an 11.5 per cent growth over the same period in 2010.
Peel Airports to Sell Durham Tess Valley
UK airport operator Peel Airports Limited announced last week that it has decided to sell its majority shareholding in Durham Tees Valley Airport and has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to actively seek a buyer for its shares and to oversee any subsequent sale process. According to Peel, the airport in North East England “no longer fits within the company’s strategic plans for its portfolio of airports”. Peel Airports Limited, which is majority controlled by Vancouver Airport Services, currently holds a 75 per cent share in Durham Tess Valley Airport: the remaining stake is held by six local authorities. The company says the facility will “continue to operate as normal during the process,” but did not outline any timescale for the sale process. Peel Airports also manages Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield by has found it difficult to generate additional traffic at Durham Tees Valley or to stimulate demand. According to official UK Civil Aviation Authority data, passenger traffic at the airport has fallen from a high of 917,963 in 2006 to just 224,673 last year, a figure that is expected to slip a further 10 to 15 per cent during the current calendar year.
easyJet Launches Salzburg Link from London Luton
UK low-fare carrier easyJet has launched seasonal links between London Luton and the Austrian city of Salzburg. The airline is offering a twice weekly service on the route and operated its inaugural flight on December 17. The new route is likely to prove popular with ski enthusiasts as an alternate option for travelling to the many alpine resorts in the region but easyJet also expects to generate a strong demand from those looking for city breaks in the historical city, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and also the setting for the popular musical, The Sound of Music. “We’re pleased to be launching this new Winter service from London Luton Airport. Forward bookings have proved that this new route is a popular choice with our customers. Salzburg offers the best of both worlds for those looking for a ski or city break and has an interesting history and heritage,” said Hugh Aitken, Commercial Manager, easyJet. There are currently no direct scheduled links between London Luton and Salzburg. British Airways currently offers flights from London Gatwick, a route also served by easyJet on a seasonal basis, while Ryanair offers links from London Stansted. In the past year an estimated 182,000 O&D passengers travelled between Salzburg and London’s airports with easyJet holding a 8.7 per cent share of this traffic. The new Salzburg route is an addition to easyJet’s existing winter route schedule which already includes a range of popular sun and city destinations like Malaga, Nice, Sharm-El-Sheikh and Tel Aviv, as well as the popular winter ski destinations of Geneva and Grenoble.
Nice Hits Ten Million Passenger Milestone
Nice Côte d'Azur Airport surpassed the ten million passenger milestone in early December only the third time the French facility has passed the milestone in its history. The airport handled 9.60 million passengers last year, the third consecutive year of traffic decline, having hit a record of 10.39 million in 2007. In fact this year has been one of the most successful periods in the airport’s history with a number of operational and network records being broken. During the Northern Summer 2011 schedules the airport served its highest number of direct destinations (105) with its largest portfolio of airline partners (59). On Saturday July 30 it handled 43,762 passengers, a record for a single day and that month’s total of 1,218,501 passengers was also a monthly record. Looking forward and despite the current economic environment, 2012 is set to be another positive year for Nice Côte d'Azur Airport as Air France and easyJet open new bases at the airport and major international flag carriers such as Lufthansa, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines introduce new connections to the south of France.
European Commission Inspects TAP Portugal and Brussels Airlines
The European Commission has confirmed that company officials undertook unannounced inspections at the premises of Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal in Brussels and Lisbon on December 13 due to concerns that the codeshare partnership between the two flag carriers may breach antitrust rules. Earlier this year the Commission started proceedings into the possible effects for consumers of the codesharing agreements between the two airlines. In a statement the Commission says it “has concerns” that the agreements “may go further than the sale of seats on routes where the two companies are expected to compete.” The Commission fears TAP and Brussels Airlines may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices and its officials were accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities during their searches of the carriers’ headquarters. Unannounced inspections are a preliminary step into suspected anticompetitive practices. However, the fact that the Commission carries out such inspections does not mean that the companies are guilty of anti-competitive behavior.
Odyssey Airlines is a Bit of a Mystery
A start-up airline is being touted as one of the undisclosed customers for the Bombardier CSeries but efforts to find someone to confirm the story seem to be impossible. The venture, Odyssey Airlines, will, according a Reuters ‘exclusive’, launch Business Class-only operations from London City Airport including a non-stop route to New York in direct competition with British Airways (BA). However, details of the company remain vague and all staff said to be working for the start-up have distanced themselves from the venture. The Reuters report earlier this week claims that the carrier was incorporated in September 2010 and two Internet domains have already been reserved to the company - www.odysseyairlines.com and www.odyair.com. It is said to be the unidentified European buyer that placed an order for ten Bombardier CSeries 100 aircraft at the Paris Air Show this year, according to the article, and will likely take delivery of the 110-seat aircraft from 2014 or 2015. Attempts to clarify the report have failed to bring any credence to the story and both London City and Bombardier Aerospace have declined to comment on the report. Even Reuters, which quoted “aviation industry sources,” could not find anybody to confirm if this was a serious business project.
Swedavia Announces Revised Charges
Swedish airport operator Swedavia has revised its proposed aeronautical charges for next year reducing its price increases due to the current market conditions. After reducing its fees for many years, Swedavia had revealed earlier this year that it would increase its charges by 2.7 per cent, in line with expected inflation. This, it said, was to offset increased capital expenditure in baggage handling systems glycol management infrastructure, and to ensure high quality services for passengers with reduced mobility. However, it has now confirmed that due to market uncertainty and the current global economic crisis it has revised its proposal and will now only increase its fees by 1.9 per cent for 2012. Despite the market conditions, the number of passengers using Swedavia’s airports continues to grow with passenger traffic in November up nine per cent to 2.7 million compared with the same month last year. The number of domestic passengers rose by eleven per cent, while international passengers numbers were up seven per cent. Across the first eleven months of the year more than 29 million passengers have travelled to or from one of Swedavia’s eleven airports, a growth of 13 per cent. “Even today, we’re seeing substantial interest in our airports, which contributes to greater access to and from the whole country,” said Torborg Chetkovich, Chief Executive Officer, Swedavia. “More passengers means that we can continue our work to attract more direct routes.” The fastest growing facility in the company’s portfolio during November was Malmö Airport which witnessed a 20 per cent growth. In the same month, Stockholm Bromma Airport surpassed the two million passenger milestone, a seven per cent Year-on-Year growth on 2010.
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